Dr Sally Ride- An Astronaut and Astrophysicist of Distinction

Our first American female astronaut, Sally Ride, died at the age of 61 from cancer, and the obituary cites her long time same sex partner. The news story then becomes she's "outed" in her obituary.

Here's a woman who had a PHD in Astrophysics from Stanford, who led a life that inspired millions of young women by her achievements, and yet, the fact that she was a Lesbian and she didn't tell anybody is the news. How thoroughly sophomoric of the press. 

Dr Ride felt that her achievements were based on her ability, and her gender was not an issue. She would've just as soon have had no more publicity than any other astronaut when she first went into space. Yet, our society demanded publicity, almost as a "see, women can do that too" kind of justification for her participation in the space program. 

Someday society will look upon women only for what they do, and not act surprised by their achievements or even feel the need to comment on their gender.  They  perform equally well in their work. Maybe someday they will even get equal pay for their work; even though we have a law that says they should now. Maybe someday they won't have to be "outed either". They'll just be who they are, doing what they do very well, as Dr Sally Ride would want.